Whats changed ??

well its been almost a year since i posted up here,

so whats changed since then you say ??

well a LOT and a lot of nasties too

had a massive oil leak for about 3 months, and finally got it fixed last week - was leaking from the crankshaft seal.

my central locking stuffed up on my drivers side door so i re-located it to a better actuation angle, and then its fucked up my alarm somehow. it no longer beeps when its armed.

I currently have a loose connection in the wiring around my head unit (i have a suspicion that the mechanics pulled out my switch panel to see what it did) and now there is a short somewhere and my undercar lights don't work, and my head unit is no longer putting out signal on the right hand channel. I plan on fixing it all up when i install my recently purchased Bluetooth hands free kit. this will allow me to connect any phone to my car wirelessly !!

other than that, ive had a thermostat fail on me and a minor coolant leak from the water pump area.

Good things have also happened though !!!

I bought a parts car !!! its a u12 CA18DET converted series 3 EXA with all the good bits, and ive been trying to get them from one car to another.

Its been stolen and recovered, and has mojor panel and window damage, but the engine is in good nick.

I had the wheels off the parts car fitted with some faboo new goodyear tyers (Eagle f1 gts3)

I finally wired up the parts car ECU !!! with many long nights of soldering and labeling it was finally done! and the stock ECU is now up and running.

The engine turned over and runs nicely now that i rewired the coil packs to fire in the correct order. the Exhaust is a 3" monster, mandrel bent, and sounds soooo goooood.

Brian and I took the car for a spin or two around the paddock and up and down the road outside my house, it pulls hard and when it comes onto boost you are really thrown back in your seat, i think i'm gonna love this engine when i get it into KiTT!!

I'm aiming for 140 fwKw, and i think thats a reasonable target on the stock ECU and turbo. i'm considering an aftermarket one, but that won't be till after i have the engine in and running.

I also am planning on transferring the series 3 seats, the power windows and the rear disk brakes. the brakes will be next followed by the windows as they require a bit more electrical knowledge (they are not shown in the workshop manual i have) The seats will be re-upholstered in blue and black vinal, and thats not too far in the future yet - am gonna get quotes on that in the next few weeks.

and MrBoom off the EXA club boards has just come up with one of the best looking kits for the EXA to ever be produced, so i'm thinking of splashing out on one of those if i can afford it over summer, on top of the engine works

so yeh

will keep you posted

Mark